Danny?
by Auua Ytjoml
Summary: He is dead. It takes time, but even this stark awful truth is gradually accepted. Even so, hope remains in the darkest of nights and when wishes in the dark come true it takes more than love, it takes faith, to weather the storm.
1. 1 Maddie

Hello. Just a quick note before I let you all go. Each chapter will be told from a different point of view. As such chapter length will vary greatly. To remedy this I will almost always post chapters in clusters. Also, as inspiration may leave me at any time I will only ever stop where I'm comfortable with the story ending, even if that is a cliffhanger.  
As always I don't own anything. Enjoy!

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She can't believe her eyes. Though she had hoped he would move on she'd secretly wished that he wouldn't, that she would see him again. But wishes in the dark aren't the same as a physical manifestation – no. She'd left that behind. He was, is, her son and she can't believe he's floating right in front of her.

"Danny?"


	2. 2 Jazz

'It has been four months' she tells herself. 'He's not coming back. This kind of thinking is psychologically unhealthy for grievers'. But no matter what she tells herself she can't shake the hope that somewhere in the vast expanses of the ghost zone, her brother is still there, trying to find them.


	3. 3 Jack

"Maddie! Have you seen the FentonGhostAid? I swear I just put it down right here… but… Maddie? Maddie!"

"Jack?"

Her voice floats up to him from the lab, tenuous and filled with lots of emotion. He doesn't know quite what it all is, he just knows that it's lots and that she probably needs him.

"Coming Maddie!"

He races out of the kitchen down the stairs and then stumbles to a dead stop.

"Phantom?"


	4. 4 Phantom

He doesn't know who these people are but he can guess. The other ghosts have told him about the Fentons. They wear brightly colored jumpsuits and hunt ghosts. It used to be that they hunted all ghosts on sight but shortly after he was dead they started to become more, what word had the ghost girl used, disc- discriminating, that's it!, and now only hunt ghosts who bother people. Though to him it seems if they became more discriminating they would not become more tolerant so...

Does being in their house count as bothering? He hopes not. He doesn't want to be hunted. In fact he's rather thinking about disappearing back into the ghost zone.

"Danny?"

The female Fenton finally opens her mouth but he doesn't understand what she's asking. He cocks his head.

"Who's Danny?"

The woman sags against the wall behind her.

"Jack?"

Her voice is fearful and hopeful and confused all at the same time. Her question doesn't seem to be directed at him this time. Is she calling for the other Fenton? The male is more trigger happy, he knows. Should he go home? But the pull at his core is leading him here, out into the living world.

'The male Fenton is a Giant!' he observes, alarmed. But his flight response is stalled when the man stumbles to a stop and stares at him with wild eyed grief and the same hope present in the female Fenton.

"Phantom?"

They know him. That can't be good. He's never been out before. Had the other ghosts been ratting on him? Were they telling good things or bad things? Of the few ghosts he'd met some had been openly friendly or hostile but others, all numbering among the ghosts who regularly traveled through the portals, regard him with some confusing mix of the two that leaves him more fearful that when around openly hostile ghosts. He never knows if someone in that grouping wants to talk or beat him to a pulp.

The Fenton's are still staring at him as if waiting for him to say something. Right.

"Uh… Phantom. That's me."


	5. 5 Maddie

She remembers watching the ghost boy fight the Wisconsin Ghost, Plasmius. She remembers the sheer hostility between the two. She remembers the blast of ecto-energy that had missed the Red Huntress and flown straight towards her only for a streak of black and silver to crash into her absorbing the energy with a bloodcurdling scream that had deafened her and sent Plasmius tumbling to the ground where he was promptly sucked into a Thermos.


	6. 6 Jack

He remembers watching helplessly from too far away as a deadly ecto-blast seared through the air directly towards his Maddie. He remembers running, knowing he wouldn't make it in time. He remembers hearing Phantom yelling and then the ghost teen is a blur as he falls out of the sky and into Maddie, shielding her from the massive ball of energy. He remembers reaching their sides, seeing the pale face of the ghost-boy as if for the first time as glowing white rings encircle the still body in his wife's arms, and leave behind his very own Danny-boy.


	7. 7 Phantom

He remembers a scream for help, a rose colored light, an awful pain, everywhere, and then nothing. Why is he remembering his death right now? Is he afraid? No. Are the ghost-Hunters somehow connected with his death?


	8. 8 Maddie

She takes a step forward, palms down and out in front of her, reassuring.

"It's ok Danny. We know who you are, all of you. Fenton and Phantom. You don't have to hide from us. We love you."

She'd waited so long to tell him that, to ask for his forgiveness, but his reaction is not what she expects.

Instead of shock, joy, fear, anything!, he simply frowns.

"I don't understand."

She rings her hands. What else is there to understand?!


	9. 9 Jack

Phantom- Danny, takes a step back. It's only then Jack notices that his son is at least a foot off the ground; high enough to look him in the eyes.

"I don't understand."

Beside him, he can feel Maddie starting to crumble. He wraps a protective arm around her.

"You are our son, Danny Fenton, and you are the ghost boy, Danny Phantom." He tries to explain things as best he can. Maddie's really the best with words, but…

"I am Phantom. I know this. Who is Danny Fenton? How can I be two people at once? Even when I am duplicated I am still me."


	10. 10 Phantom

He slowly backs away from them. The Fenton's must be crazier than he'd been led to believe. He needs to get out of here, fast, before they start pointing weapons at him.

His back hits the wall. "-I am still me," he ends his awkward monologue.

The woman reaches for something on the table next to her and he takes that as his cue. Slipping into intangibility and invisibility he rockets upwards, startling a teenage girl as he passes through her room on his way out.


	11. 11 Jazz

She's trying to read a psychology book to forget things for a while when a soft wind envelops her and is gone as quickly as it came, sending pages flying.

"Whoa!"

A new ghost must have entered from the Fenton-Ghost-Portal, she decides as she finds her page again. Now, that their parents - no – her. Now that her parents know the truth, the Ghost portal is only opened when someone is there to beat back unfriendly ghosts from the start.

Idly she wonders if this ghost is friendly and in a rush or if it had snuck past her parents and is intent on some mischief. Sighing she grabs the Fenton Peeler, now modified to have multiple functions including a Ghost-Gabber, two ecto-proof nets, and a ray-gun in addition to the now lesser used peeler.

After Danny had sacrificed himself for their mom, revealing his secret in the process, Valerie had become closer to the remaining trio of Team Phantom. This new friendship had included a sharing of technology and Jazz had been taken with Val's hoverboard design.

Hopping on her own sleek blue board, she soars out of her window and looks around for any signs of destruction or mayhem. Nothing.

Fingering her thermos Jazz swoops out in a large circle above the Ops-center. A flash of green catches her eye. There!

High up in the sky maybe a mile or two away, a shadowy figure becomes briefly visable in the light of a glowing ball of ectoenergy. Jazz glides closer silently. What is it planning on doing?

The figure launches the energy upwards where it explodes like a firework above the town.

"Ok, most likely friendly." She whispers into the FentonCorder, which doubles as a watch, on her wrist.

"Who's there?!"


	12. 12 Phantom

He soars up into the night sky. At first his gaze is drawn by the neon metropolis sprawled below him, filling the small valley from edge to edge, but a single glance upwards, entrances him with the stars.

He flies even higher in an abortive attempt to reach them and then contents himself with tracing their own slow, or is it really incredibly fast?, flight through the heavens.

His newfound peace is interrupted by the sound of a human voice, a living voice if he isn't mistaken. He shifts uneasily into an upright position, and confronts the unknown observer.

"Who's there?!"

He gathers the energy surrounding him into a glowing, heatless mass concentrated around his fist.

"Hello? I know you're out there!"

Slowly a girl standing on a mechanical sled slides up through the air and stops several yards away.  
"Hi. My name is Jazz. Are you new here?"


	13. 13 Jazz

When the ghost calls her out she can hardly believe it. There's no way anyone could hear a whisper from a mile away! Frowning in irritation she glides forward to meet the guy- she can tell it's a male by his voice.

She stops short of the figure and schools her face into a welcoming smile. If he is friendly, she has no desire to accidentally set him off.

"Hi. My name is Jazz." She pauses momentarily to take in his reaction. He is still, listening. "Are you new here?"

She floats closer and then her carefully restructured world is breaking apart.

"Danny!"


	14. 14 Phantom

The girl is the same one he'd seen in leaving the Fenton's. Does that mean she's a Fenton as well? How many are there?

She comes closer, probably wanting an answer to her question and then gasps.

"Danny!"

"What is it with people calling me Danny out here?" he growls in frustration. He's about to continue his rant and demand some answers of his own when the girl's eyes roll up in her head and she tumbles from her board.

The pull in his core suddenly intensifies and his entire world narrows to the rapidly diminishing sight of the Jazz girl falling towards the ground. A sharp pain lances through his body, emanating from his core, as he stalls midair, dumbfounded and then, almost against his will, not that he's fighting the urge, he's chasing after her, losing his legs to reduce drag and forcing himself faster and faster. His brain notifies him that if he directly stops her fall the jarring halt could be harmful to her. Recalculating automatically, he grabs her in one narrow arc, converting their downward momentum into horizontal and then vertical speed as he returns to her board.


	15. 15 Jazz

The cold air streaming over her face reminds her that she'd forgotten her goggles before heading out on patrol.

"Dang it!"

All at once she becomes aware of the arms around her, carrying her through the night sky.

"What the-?"

Her savior glances down. "You fell. I rescued you. I think I'm supposed to thank you. I think you helped me discover my obsession."

She blinks. The glowing green eyes, snowy white hair, even - her eyes seek out his chest as he deposits her back onto her hoverboard - the DP insignia spells out what she can hardly believe.

Meeting his eyes once more she pulls him into a tight hug.

"You're back!"


	16. 16 Phantom

The Jazz girl grabs him and his first thought is 'she's attacking me!' but he don't feel any pain. Tentatively he opens one eye then the other. Her eyes are still closed and she's smiling broadly. So… not attacking. He's beginning to feel crushed so he slips out of reach intangibly.

Immediately her eyes fly open.

"Danny! Don't go!"

Anger builds up inside of him.

"I am not Danny! I don't know who this Danny-boy is! I don't care to know! I am Phantom!"

Blindly he releases the pressure building up behind his eyes. A bright green stream of energy bursts forth from them and the new experience of seeing through his energy distracts him to the point of jumping in surprise when a hand lays itself on his shoulder.

"Phantom?"


	17. 17 Jazz

She relishes the feel of his bony shoulders beneath hers. Automatically she takes his vitals as she had so many times before for a teenage boy who'd never sit still for actual tests. First she notes that he isn't breathing – that he seems to have no need to breath. Then other things strike her. He's colder than he ever was before. His pulse is not existent as is his heartbeat.

Her smile is now more of a grimace. They'd buried the body. She knows that, but when he'd appeared, floating in the night sky, her first thoughts had been: 'he survived'; 'he's alive!'; 'he's ok!'. Still. He _is_ here, in her arms, in some form or another.

The next moment he isn't there. Her eyes fly open to seek him out as she cries, "Danny! Don't go!"


	18. 18 Phantom

All he can think of is the pain. He's mad at her. He wants to hurt her. To make her SHUT UP! But the feeling in his core, the more he angry and violent he becomes the more painful the pull is and this time it's directed against him.


	19. 19 Jazz

Those simple words invoke a torrent of rage that she does not understand. The only bit she does grasp as he rants and she dodges ecto-blasts (though she can see that he's not really trying to target her) is that he's forgotten himself. He's forgotten his past. He's forgotten her.

Hesitantly she comes up behind him. 'He wants to be called Phantom', she reminds herself.

"Phantom?"

With her simple touch on his arm, he shuts down, stops radiating power and reverts to silence. She tries again.

"You're name is Phantom right?"

Slowly, mutely, he nods.

"Do you know my name?"

A minute passes and then five.

"You called yourself Jazz."

Good. Now engage him in dialogue. Find out what he does know.

"That's right. Are you a new ghost?"

She knows he is, but does he?

"I, I guess so. Leastways I don't remember much. Can I trust you?"

The last remark is asked in the same halting tone but his eyes, gazing distrustfully out from under his familiar bangs, pierce her heart as she remembers the same gaze directed at Mom, at Dad, at the town… at life.

"Yes." She answers simply. "Anything you tell me: it's a secret if you want it to be. There's only one condition. No hurting people. If what I know about you can save lives then I will break confidence." She hates adding qualifiers, but she has to. If absolutely necessary, she would break doctor-patient confidentiality, and she has to be honest with him if she wants his trust.

This time his silence lasts long enough for the moon to rise a relative foot. Then…

"Don't tell anyone. I don't know who I can trust. I don't want to get hunted, by anyone, ghost or living."

She nods. "I understand."

"I woke up on the outer edges of the ghost zone about a month ago. I was scared. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there. I was supposed to be in a city. Someone was in trouble. I had to help them."

His eyes bore into hers. "It was, is, my duty to help them."

Jazz sits cross-legged across from her brother, silently absorbing everything he says.

"I floated around for a while and then I ran into this other guy, girl, thing. He told me I was a ghost. That I had died. He explained that I was in the ghost zone. I already knew that, but I asked him if he knew where a portal was. I explained it to him. 'You see there's this person I really need to help. She was screaming for help. I don't know how much time she has.'"

Danny clamps his mouth shut and they sit there in silence for a while. Jazz processes his words as if underwater. He remembers his death. He remembers Mom, however vaguely. Does he remember-?

Finally Jazz finishes collecting her thoughts and softly prompts him. "And then?"

It appears he'd been waiting for her for at her words he immediately continues.

"He, it, told me that I couldn't help her, that she was already either ok or beyond help, and I got so mad. I got so mad."

His eyes clench tightly shut and his body shakes as he continues.

"I was so mad. I could help her! I could! And then he was gone and everything had changed. It wasn't empty anymore. Now I was surrounded by doors. There are thousands of them, Jazz."

His eyes peek across at her and she nods. There would be.

"The weirdest thing was I recognized them. Not like any particular door, but the entirety of the scene was familiar to me, and right behind me there was a door that was just my size."

He glances at her, questioning her with his gaze.

He's obviously not willing to tell her everything, and she's not wiling to force him so she steers the story onward.

"So you obviously found a portal, our portal. How?"

Instead of continuing he seems to be rapidly adding up facts. "So you are a Fenton too!"

"Yeah, but-" she blurts out the rest as he makes a move to scoot further away from her. "I only hunt bad ghosts. Ghosts that are causing problems like destroying property or threatening lives. And we, the Fentons I mean. We don't destroy ghosts anymore, unless we absolutely have to. Mostly we just return them to the ghost zone."

"Oh. All right." He settles back down again, legs dissolving into a spectral tail that curls around him like smoke. "So are there any other Fenton's I have to watch out for? You said you only hunt bad ghosts. Do other hunters hunt all ghosts?"

How to put this? How to mention _Danny_ without setting off another fit.

"Well, there's a lot of would be 'ghost busters' but you don't generally need to worry about them. Basically there are seven hunters of any repute and all of them follow the same code more or less.

There's the Red Huntress, also known as Valerie Grey. She generally works alone. There is Sam Manson and Tucker Foley-" She inspects him from the corner of her vision for any reaction to those names. None.

"They work as a team. Then there's my Mom and Dad, Maddie and Jack Fenton. They work together most of the timebut you'll also see them around independently. Then there's me, Jazz Fenton. Honestly, I don't hunt ghosts all that much. I'm not much of fighter. I'm more interested in talking with them."

She halts.

"That's six."

"Huh?"

"You said there are seven hunters but you only named six."

"Oh, right."

"Well?" His eyes narrow and he leans forward.

She sighs. "Promise not to get angry again?"

"No. I didn't try the first time and I'm not going to try again. I don't like being mad."

She nods in understanding. "That's good enough. The last hunter's name is Dani."

"Danny?"


	20. 20 Phantom

When he tells her his story she's very quite and very attentive. She tells him he can trust her, reaffirming his gut reaction to do the same but when he gets to his door, he hesitates. He remembers how she said she couldn't promise that she wouldn't tell, if it would help save someone. But even if it would help save someone he doesn't know that he wants anyone else to know. Hell! He doesn't even know if he wants _her_ to know!

So he's grateful when she seems to get that and doesn't press it and even returns the favor by answering some questions for him.

"The last hunter's name is Danny."

Immediately he feels irritated again, but… but she's not calling _him_ Danny. And he can't be mad any time someone mentions a name.

"Danny?" Despite his reasoned thinking, vestiges of irritation are still present in his voice.

"Dani with an 'I'. It's short for Danielle. She's a girl."

See? Not even close to him at all! "Oh."

"Actually…"

Jazz trails off and he's immediately suspicious. What is she withholding from him?  
"What?"

"She actually kinda reminds me of you. You've both got the same color scheme going and her last name is Phantom."

Irritation gives way to wariness and curiosity. "What kind of warmblood goes by Phantom? That's a ghost name."

He doesn't realize he's spoken out loud until the Fenton girl is responding to his question.

"Well, you see, Danielle isn't actually a full, what was it you said? Warmblood? She's only half alive."

"Then what-!"

"She's also half ghost."

"Is that even possible?" He's flabbergasted. What kind of anomaly is this girl? And why does she have his name? Or… 'I suppose I have her name. She's got to have been around longer than I have.'

"It's more common than you'd think. There used to be two other halfa's as well."

"Who?"

"Uh-uh. You've got to tell me more of your story now. Fair trade."

He supposes that it is only fair but he protests anyway. "But you haven't told me hardly anything about yourself. Just about other people."

She gives him a look.

"Fine. For a while I just hid inside that door. I knew it was safe in there and outside? Who knew? But I still had this drive to find the person in trouble, and it kept getting stronger the longer I waited, so eventually I started exploring, hoping I'd stumble upon a portal. Whatever else I don't know, I know that the person is in the living realm."

He glares at her, waiting for her to contradict him, but she doesn't. He relaxes.

"My second encounter with another ghost I was exploring these crazy stairs. They're upside down, some of them, and others are in circles, it's really cool."

He flashes her a smile, almost before he can help himself, and immediately covers it, but she smiles back, so he allows his grin to return.

"All of a sudden this ghost in a white suit and hat-"

"Walker."

"What?" He quirks an eyebrow at his audience.

"Walker. The name of the ghost you met is Walker."

"Oh, ok."

"So.. _Walker_ stops me and starts yelling at me. He was all, 'you are in an unauthorized area' and ' you won't escape this time!' and then this other ghost, one of his goons scans me with something and everything changes. The ghost in charge starts acting really weird, like he can't decide whether to be super happy or super upset, and then he lets me go and apologizes like, 'I'm so sorry for detaining you. You have every right to be in this area.' And then he just flies off."

"Weird." She agrees with him, which makes him feel better.

"I know! A few days later I ran into one of the portal jumpers. One of the ghosts who's always coming over here." He explains to her unasked question. "This one was even younger than me. He calls himself Youngblood. At first he seemed almost nervous to see me, but then he realized something, I don't know what, and he became all happy and invited me to join him."

"Join him! Youngblood is one of the biggest mischief makers on either side of the portal!"

He smirks at her irritation.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that. He wanted me to help him extinguish the hair of this singer girl, Ember. Well, when she saw me she was furious. She immediately started chasing me around and I only escaped when this other ghost, Skulker, stopped her and said the prank didn't work so leave me be. Then she starts going on about doesn't he realize this is Phantom? The Dipstick? And he just shrugs it off saying that I'm a ghost now, just like them, which doesn't make any sense. I'd never met either of them before in my life so why are they acting as if they know me?"


	21. 21 Jazz

Jazz scrambles for an answer. She has to tell him the truth but how can she explain that he has, had, a whole other life?

Luckily the question appears to be rhetorical, as he doesn't wait for an answer.

"They both appear to have forgotten about me so I start to sneak away, when Skulker calls me back. 'Welp! Get back over here.' I don't really have much of a choice and he seems _fairly_ friendly. As least, he'd stopped Ember from attacking me. He gets all in my face and growls 'just because you're not prey anymore doesn't mean I won't attack you if you get in my way. Understood?' I don't understand anything of what he's talking about but I nod and fly out of there before he can say 'ghostboy'. I decide to find a place to hide, mull over what I'd learned, you know? and I find this ice tunnel-"

She can tell where this is going, now. He would have run into Frostbite, who would have shown him the way to the Fenton Portal.

"-and he was really glad to see me, but he wouldn't tell me why-"

The only question is, why doesn't he remember? All ghosts remember something of their lives, at least all the ones she'd been able to ask – including once where she'd traded Skulker's story for his freedom and an hour head start. She'd gotten chewed out over that. So why not Danny?

"-and then I rescued you. So that's my story. Now you have to tell me about the other… the other halfa's. And you have to tell me something about Jazz."

She nods in agreement. Eventually she'll tell him everything, it's just the how…

"Ok. There were two other halfa's like I said."

"Were?"

Don't cry, don't cry don't cry. She whispers to herself. Swallowing hard she nods in affirmation.

"Were. Both of them are gone now. One of them was named Vlad. As a human he went by Vlad Masters, as a ghost Vlad Plasmius. Long years of jealousy and self imposed estrangement eventually twisted him until all he wanted was to destroy those who resisted him. That included all of the ghost hunters of course, but two in particular; Mo-Maddie and the last halfa."

"So who _is_ he? she? You keep skirting around them like-"

She glares at him and thankfully he gets the message.

"Maybe I should tell you tomorrow."


	22. 22 Phantom

Immediately he is contrite. He really is curious, and it pains him, almost literally, to see her upset, but most of all, she's the only friend he has on this side of the portal and he's scared to be alone.

"No! I can be quiet." He immediately covers his mouth to show her he means it. They sit like that for at least ten minutes while she gathers her thoughts. 'Either that or she's just testing me.' He thinks to himself.

"The last halfa was my brother."

He almost blurts out a question then stops himself.

"He was caught in a lab accident when he was 14. He was just trying to see if he could fix it for Mom and Dad, that and probably show off just a little. Sam was encouraging him. He didn't realize how much danger he was in until he accidentally fixed the portal."

She's looking at him yet not looking at him, as if she could see right through him into some other time. Is she talking about the Fenton Portal? They'd made _that_?! Whoa.

"The 'on' switch was on the inside. When Mom and Dad plugged it in they forgot about that…. And when Danny turned it on-"

Wait. Her brother? Danny? Again? What's with all these Dannys? And what do any of them have to do with him, Phantom?

"-the electricity would have killed him but he didn't need to leave his body to find ectoplasm. It was all around. So part of him turned ghost, but his body never shut down."

For a while she's quiet as if trying to hold back tears. He scoots closer to her and wonders what he should do. The pull in his core is telling him to do something. Tentatively he places his arms around her like she had done to him. It seems like he'd done right, because she leans into him and starts crying for real.

"Thanks D-Phantom."

As soon as the lessoning of the pull in his core tells him she's feeling better he scoots away.

"Don't mention it." He fails to mention that he doesn't think he has a choice.

"Can you tell me any more?" 'Why did all the Fenton's, including you, call me Danny?' he wants to ask.

"Yeah. You deserve to know." Not caring to explain that remark, Jazz continues.

"Danny learned how to use his new ghost powers and became a hero. At first he kept it a secret from everyone except his best friends, Sam and Tucker, who were there when the accident happened. Then I found out. Soon after that Dani-Danielle became part of our group, even though she was off by herself most of the time. She didn't become a serious hunter until after- after-"

"After what?"

She looks at him was steely, water filled eyes. "After Danny died."


	23. 23 Jazz

He looks shocked, as if he can't believe she's telling him all this. After all he'd kept secrets from her and she can only imagine that for someone hearing all this for the first time, it would sound like she's spilling everything. But she hasn't told him the most important secret of all.

"So you're brother became all ghost?"

She nods, suddenly exhausted emotionally and physically. "Looks like."

"So…" his eyes flash. "You've seen him then?"

She stands abruptly and heads back to her room. He follows along beside her. Dropping in through her window, she sets the hoverboard back up against the wall. Returning to the window where he's perched himself she grasps his hand, not knowing if she'll see him again once she tells him who he was.

"Yeah, I've seen him really recently. You know how I told you Vlad had two names, a ghost name and a living name?"

"Yeah?"


	24. 24 Phantom

He doesn't get what she's driving at. Anxiously he grasps her hand, which had been resting lightly on his.

"Do you know what my brother's two names were?"

How would he know?! But he keeps his mouth shut and merely shakes his head.

"As a human my brother just went by Danny Fenton or Daniel James Fenton if he was in trouble with Mom."

He chuckles a bit and she sends a sharp glare at him before smiling briefly as well.

"As a ghost," she swallows audibly. "As a ghost he went by Danny, Danny _Phantom_."


	25. 25 Jazz

He freezes. Silently she begs him not to run and a first he seems too shocked or angry or … something, to move.

In a heartbeat, that changes. He lunges forward onto her and pins her to the floor. His eyes are wild, and, she notices with hope and trepidation, are streaked with light blue.

"What do you know about me and Danny?" he hisses, separating each word to spit it out alone and distinct.

Calmly she raises her head to meet his eyes with tears of in her own. Gathering all the joy she has she composes one simple sentence. "You can't imagine how good it is to see you again little brother. _Danny_ Phantom."


	26. 26 Maddie

Jazz had been strangely quiet for the last several hours and when Maddie goes up to check on her, her room is empty. Noticing her daughter's hoverboard is also missing Maddie, immediately pulls out a Fenton phone and dials her number.

"Hello. This is Jazz. If it's an emergency leave a message here. If it's not call me at-"

She ends the call. Where could her daughter be? She knows it's not safe to go hunting alone. Or is she sneaking out for another reason? A boy?

A gust of wind alerts her to an incoming presence. She quickly slips out of the room but stays at the keyhole.

"Yeah, I've seen him. You know how I told you Vlad had two names, a ghost name and a living name?"

"Yeah?"

Who is she talking to? Maddie recognizes her daughter's voice right away but the single monosyllabic 'yeah' isn't enough to place her friend, only determine that it is a boy.

"Do you know what my brother's two names were?"

Why is she telling the stranger? Why does Jazz _need_ to tell this stranger? Everyone in Amity Park is now aware of the secret behind Fenton and Phantom.

"As a human my brother just went by Danny Fenton or Daniel James Fenton if he was in trouble with Mom." A pause. "As a ghost… As a ghost he went by Danny, Danny _Phantom_."

Suddenly there's a thud and the sound of struggling.

Maddie throws open the door to see a slight figure pinning her daughter to the floor. She rallies, ready to throw this, obviously unfriendly visitor off of her daughter when her daughter's words slice through the night and send Maddie reeling.

"You can't imagine how good it is to see you again little brother. _Danny_ Phantom."


	27. 27 Phantom

"Danny?"

He lifts his head, only to meet the gaze of the Fenton women, Jazz's Mom, Maddie. In a flash he's off Jazz and out the window, fleeing once more into the darkness.

Is she telling him the truth? Who was he?


	28. 28 Jazz

Jazz lifts herself up and sits numbly on the bed.

"Jazz? Was that? Was that Danny? Is he really back? Is he ok?"

Mutely she nods. Yes. Yes.

"I don't know. He doesn't remember anything, Mom."


	29. 29 Maddie

She collapses beside her daughter and they lean on each other in mutual support. After a while her lovable bear of a husband joins them and for once, doesn't ask questions, merely lends her, lends his family what comfort he can give.


	30. 30 Jack

He hears crying and immediately wants to join whichever of his girls it is. He makes his way upstairs, at a walk, not a charge, and traces the noise to his daughter's room. One look at his Jazz's face is enough to tell even him, that she knows, that she's seen _him_. But why aren't they happy?

Deciding that making them feel better is his number one priority he wraps his large frame around both of them and holds them tight. After all, no matter what happens they'll muddle through it like they always do. They're a family.


	31. 31 Valerie

She's never been the soundest sleeper but after Phantom, after Danny died, Valerie, still hidden behind the façade of the Red Huntress, has been getting by on less than bare minimum. Some nights she doesn't sleep at all. Instead she can be found patrolling Amity Park. 'Just wants to make sure everyone is safe,' she tells herself, but the truth is she's afraid to close her eyes. Every time she sleeps, she dreams of killing Phantom, only for him to change into her crush, Danny who just looks at her with sad eyes, asking her 'why?'


	32. 32 Phantom

He sails through the city on his back, blindly avoiding walls or passing through them in his aimless wandering. His thoughts mirror his flight, wandering from family to memory to the night sky and then to the pink light and the cry for help.

Suddenly his core contracts painfully. Immediately he follows the pull. He's not been a ghost for long but he knows that to ignore one's obsession is just asking for pain. It leads him out towards a city park bordering a stretch of woods. Following it down to the ground, he alights on the wet grass.

"Hello? Are you ok?"

He doesn't see anyone but he can sense the girl's figure hovering over the spring mud.

"Wh-Ahk!"

A shriek accompanies the spray of gelatinous muddy soup. Within milliseconds the frame of a fit young woman in a jumpsuit with the head cover pulled back to reveal long, thoroughly muddy hair, appears clearly outlined by the mud covering her entire body.

"Sorry?"


	33. 33 Valerie

She always ends every patrol in the park. There she often contemplates the past, how things might have turned out differently, or the future, how she might fix things.

Thus occupied, she is completely taken by surprise when a gust of sudden wind in the calm night brings a voice she never thought she'd hear again to her ears.

She starts upright, questions on her lips only to topple off her hoverboard into the mud below.

"Ahk!"

Fumbling over her suit she turns off the Light-Spectre, returning her to visibility. Not that anyone watching her needs the help she is sure. It will take forever for her to get all of the viscous mud out of her hair. Maybe she should just cut it off? She's been thinking about doing so for a while now, but she's resisted because long hair is how Danny remembers her and if he comes back . . . the voice!

"Danny!"

She whirls around in a crouch and stares wildly around.

"Hello? Who spooked me?!"

A gentle chuckle comes from her right. Hesitantly, as if unsure of her reaction a young man steps out of the shadows. Simultaneously she realizes that he's actually standing a few inches above the ground and that his white hair, green eyes, are exactly how she remembers them.

"Danny?" his name comes out softer this time, a question, not an affirmation.


	34. 34 Phantom

The pull in his core had grown stronger when the girl unbalance and had continued to grow to painful levels as she first caught sight of him. Worse, he seems equally pulled toward and pushed away from her as if his very presence is both helping and hurting her. What is going on? The confusion is surly the source of the headache welling up behind his eyes.

"Danny?"

It takes him a few seconds to process the question and a few more to sort out whether his core is directing him or not. Nope.

"So they keep telling me."

The words come out bitter and he winces as the corresponding spike in her pain and thus his.

He can see the questions bubbling up inside of her and though his instincts tell him that this is not someone to be trusted he decides to ignore them for the moment. Besides, he's obviously supposed to help her somehow.


	35. 35 Valerie

He steps further out into the moonlight and her first response is one of suspicion. It can't be Danny! It simply can't. But a second passes giving her time to observe the conflicted emotions flitting across his face. Either this is a ghost she's never met before, with unparallel skill in mimicking or . . . or it really is . . . but, what about? How? Why?

"To answer the questions I'm sure you're wanting to ask, no I don't remember you. I don't remember anything from before. I really hope you're not going to use that against me?"

His voice squeaks on the last word as if he's actually scared of her. Mutely she shakes her head. How could she ever think about hurting him again?

"I don't know how I knew you were there. I just did. I just know you need help."

His words are stiff, wary and fearful. The concern and cheer she remembers in his voice is nigh absent.

Her response then, is one of equally wariness. "I'm fine. Whoever told you I wasn't is wrong."

Her voice is steely and calm. It gives away no hint of the turmoil inside.


	36. 36 Phantom

"You're wrong. There is something upsetting you. No one told me. I can just tell."

He doesn't understand why she is denying it. Doesn't she feel the hurt inside of her? Or . . . does she not want to let him know? Maybe that is weakness for her. That actually makes a lot of sense. But he has to help her even if she doesn't want his help.

I don't know what's wrong. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

The pull away from her lessons slightly. Good, he sighs internally, reassuring her that he doesn't know her secret is the right move.

"But you can't tell me nothing's wrong."


	37. 37 Valerie

Doesn't remember. That would be a fine excuse for an impersonator, and yet, she doesn't think this ghost is trying to cause trouble. If anything he seems like he earnestly wants to help her. If she's wrong she can always blast him later.

"If you don't remember me, then, I, I suppose you'd like an introduction?"


	38. 38 Phantom

The pull tells him to answer yes. She wants him to know who she is. She wants to talk. It still feels like it's painful for her to see him but that feeling is almost swamped by the cautious relief of pain that he feels more strongly the longer she watches him.

"That would be nice."

She walks closer to him, her hoverboard trailing behind at her heels like an well mannered dog. She lifts a hand, grimaces, wipes it ineffectually on her pants and then holds it out.

"Let's start over. Hi. My name is Valerie."


	39. 39 Valerie

He looks at her hand in confusion as if he doesn't know what she's doing. She drops the offending limb and bolsters her strained smile instead.

"What's your name?"

As she watches, he seems to fade out slightly, as if . . . embarrassed?

"My name is Phantom, but a lot of you warmbloods want to call me Danny."

"You've met other people?" she asks, correctly deducing what he means by 'warmbloods'.

"I- look!" Suddenly his whole demeanor changes. Gone is the meek timid Danny. Now he's threatening, and maybe even literally larger although that might just be her imagination.

"I don't really know you, and my instincts are telling me not to trust you. I know you're a ghost hunter! Supposedly you only hunt 'bad' ghosts but how am I supposed to trust you!"

Fear wells up inside of her. What's happening to him? Will he hurt her? How has becoming full ghost changed him?

As if in response to her emotions, although not a flicker of fear crosses her face, he suddenly drops to the ground whimpering.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"


	40. 40 Phantom

He thinks everything is going as well as can be expected. The pull on his core is beginning to lesson, incrementally, but still and the hunter-girl doesn't seem about to shoot his head off, literally or figuratively.

But when she pushes too far, he can't stand the tension between his obsessive pull and his instincts anymore. He explodes at her.

Almost before he can release his aggression the pull expands outward into extreme pain. He's making things worse. He doesn't care. 'No!' He's making things worse.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

He has no idea if she'll believe him. He hardly knows what he is saying, anything to stop her pain to stop his pain.


	41. 41 Valerie

She doesn't know what's going on, but she's promised to protect Danny, and Phantom because they're really the same, no matter what. He's here. He's hurting. So she needs to help. But, how?

"It's ok. I know you didn't mean it. It's ok, It's ok."

As her fear subsides and her concern for him grows he sits up, trembling under her touch.

"Are you feeling better?" His question, seemingly paradoxical, is so, so him, always looking out for others before himself, that she laughs for joy. Never mind anything else, for now she can rest assured that whatever might still be wrong will be alright soon, now that Danny's back.

"You are feeling better." He says as if to inform her of her own mental state. He pauses. "I have to go now."


	42. 42 Phantom

Whatever had happened during his attack the pain that he'd caused had disappeared. Good. He never wants to hurt someone again if that's what the pull that he is sure is his obsessive center does to him.

Still he's not sure he trusts his own reactions and he's fairly sure that asking how someone is, is normal for the warmbloods although he can't remember how he know that.

"Are you feeling better?" Almost instantly he feels a cool relief in his core as her pain ebbs away. He can still almost feel it, as if it were merely lessoned and held at bay by some sudden something, happiness perhaps?, but for the moment it's gone.

Her sudden laugh seems to confirm his guess. Happiness does relieve pain, as least the type of pain he'd felt from Valerie. He has a hunch that the prevented-pain that he'd felt from Jazz wouldn't have been fixed by happiness. Otherwise the pull would have told him to talk to her, not to catch her. No. The warmbloods defiantly feel two different types of pain. Pain of body. That was what had almost happened to Jazz. And a second type of pain. He doesn't know quite what is being hurt, he's pretty sure he's never felt this kind of pain before, but he knows now that this kind can be cured by happiness at least in some people.

"You are feeling better." He tells her. He's not sure if she is aware of this type of pain. At least, she'd never shown any outward sign of it.

And speaking of which; now that this Valerie is feeling better his core will let him leave!

"I have to go now." He's not sure how much longer his nerves can take the stress of being in the presence of the hunter-girl when they're screaming 'Not Safe!'

He stands and floats upward. Looking at her from this angle feels strangely comforting, as if he's done it before, but then-. He laughs as himself. He probably has, hasn't he. She as much admitted that she knew him when he was alive. Certainly her refusal to call him by his real name, or his current name at least, testifies to that. Something about her face, still mud-streaked, staring up at him in the dawn streaked moonlight, strikes something within him.

For the first time in this frightening new world he feels a desire to help someone apart from the forceful, unavoidable desire that is his obsession.

His gaze focuses on the syrupy mud plastered throughout her hair and over her uniform.


	43. 43 Valerie

She rises with him and stares back as he hovers, backlit by the moon. 'He's back. He really is back,' she repeats to herself. The slow joy coursing through her veins slows her thoughts and stills her trigger reaction when he suddenly flits forward.

"Here."

His hand fingers her hair for a moment. A tingling sensation throughout her skin causes her to look down. She blinks in understanding as the mud slips through her intangible body.

She looks up, "Thank-"

But the sensation of intangibility is gone along with it's source leaving the Latino girl to make her way home alone and fall into to a deep peaceful sleep for the first time in months.


End file.
